


Rewrite the Stars

by Tea Party on Ice (A_Conscious_Dreamer)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Boys In Love, Communication, Confused Shiro (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Pining Keith (Voltron), Post-Season/Series 06, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 03:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18730723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Conscious_Dreamer/pseuds/Tea%20Party%20on%20Ice
Summary: Before, their soulmate marks were the rich black of a platonic bond. And then everything changed.In which we answer the age-old question: do clones share soulmate marks?Otherwise described as Shiro struggling between the change from platonic soulmates to romantic soulmates.





	Rewrite the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> This is me sheepishly creeping back into fandom with yet another hurt/comfort Sheith soulmate AU. I doubt it will be my last either. This might become my *thing*. 
> 
> I wrote about two-thirds of this before Voltron even finished. I came back to it this weekend and thought to myself, 'hey, this is actually alright' so here you go! Have some sappy sh*t. Hope you like it.
> 
> If you notice any mistakes, please don't hesitate to tell me. Grammarly did all my editing.

**BEFORE:**

ADAM HADN’T CONSIDERED HIS lack of soulmate a problem for a very long time. Once he had moved on from the turbulent teenage years, he’d come to realise that not having a soulmate didn’t mean he didn’t get to have best friends or fall in love.

They wouldn’t share a soul bond, but many people with soul bonds ignored them in favour of someone else. Having a romantic soul bond didn’t mean your relationship was any more valid than one without.

What he hadn’t considered, though, was this: what if his partner had a soul mate, even a platonic one? What would happen then?

Adam now knew from experience: no relationship, not even one born from years trust and friendship that shifted to something more, could compare to the unspoken way one of them knew everything about someone else without even having to try.

He hated that it ate at him. Hated that he was jealous of a teenager for taking Takashi’s attention away. Hated the shine of adoration in the youngster’s eyes when he looked up at him and hated Takashi’s soft, fond smile when he looked back.

Hated that no matter how much Adam wanted to bring Takashi back down to Earth, remind him that he wasn’t invincible and that not all dreams were achievable, Keith Kogane brought something out in him that pushed him further, made him want to reach the stars even more than he had before.

He hated that deep down, he knew that they would always share something that Adam himself would never understand. Maybe that made him a petty person, maybe it was selfish to want to know and understand and keep everything of your partner to yourself.

But the truth was, he had been losing Takashi long before Kerberos.

 

**NOW:**

CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF, soulmate marks didn’t fade or change, not even upon the death of a soulmate. A soulmate bond wasn’t nearly as easy to break as that.

History and scientists had long speculated if the mark would be shared by a clone. Romance authors across the world would be disappointed to learn that it wasn’t that simple.

Keith hadn’t thought to look for Shiro’s soulmate mark after he’d found him in the ship in the middle of nowhere space.

He should have.

Keith found Shiro in the Black lions back room sitting on the edge of the makeshift bed. They’d had to get creative with up to three people occupying the lion, depending on which lions the non-paladins decided to occupy. His mother mostly stayed with him in Black, but Shiro shifted around more often than not. Keith refused to pry into why. It wasn’t as if it was a new thing, Shiro making time for everybody else even when he himself probably needed it more than anyone.

It was this reasoning that almost had Keith turning around and leaving Shiro to his thoughts until he saw what the elder was studying.

His armour had been removed and the black undersuit pulled down so the skin above his heart was exposed. Shiro was staring at the mark there as if he’d never seen it before. Not that Keith could blame him—it was very different from when he’d last seen it, too.

Barely visible, the constellation of stars that made up their shared soulmate mark nearly blended into the skin, holding almost no colour. It looked like a scar, the rich black that had marked their platonic soul bond completely missing.

“Shiro…”

Looking up, Shiro pulled a thin smile. “I guess we know the answer to soulmate-clone theory.”

His chest clenched painfully, throat thick with emotion. Every old instinct wanted to avoid this entire situation. It was too much emotion, too much everything.

Two years ago, before his stay on the space whale with his mother where he has been forced to relive every memory together, every pain, every joy, he probably would have. Rested a hand on Shiro’s shoulder and given a light platitude designed to reassure him without delving too deep.

Always careful not to delve too deep, let too much show, even though he knew Shiro off all people probably saw straight through him anyway.

But he’d spent too long away from Shiro already, lived through losing him and getting him back only to lose him all over again. Shiro, the real Shiro, was finally here, not cloned and not dead. Keith didn’t have the strength to push him away, was tired of always being so careful.

_I died, Keith._

Waking forward, he slowly sat on the bed beside the older man, bringing a finger up to trace the faded mark. “Mine never changed. You’re back now, it’ll come back too. You’re my soulmate, no matter what body you’re in,” he said softly, unwavering and sure despite the fear that clenched his heart.

Shiro reached up and took Keith’s hand in his, bringing it down to his lap and holding them there in silence. “Thank you, Keith. For everything.”

As many times as it takes, he thought to himself but didn’t dare say aloud. That was one memory of the clones he wasn’t quite ready to know if Shiro shared or not.

Instead, he squeezed their tied hands tightly in response. “You’re welcome.”

 

KEITH HAD ALWAYS KNOWN he loved Shiro. Perhaps not in the way he did now, but he always knew.

Amazing how two years spent reliving every important moment of your life could change someone. Before, he never would have had the confidence to admit it even to himself, but if he could form a bond with the mother he never knew, he sure as hell could face his soulmate.

Keith was certain, no matter what colour their marks were, but he wasn’t quite sure Shiro was. The Keith he remembered was a somewhat less controlled temperamental teenager. He could wait for Shiro to catch up—the man had just spent more time than Keith cared to remember dead in an astral plane, he couldn’t blame him for needing time.

Thankfully, with the cleanup and recovery to focus on after the attack on Earth, not to mention the need to find out what happened to the Altaens, there was plenty to keep him distracted.

He and the others had just returned from a deterring a small group of Galra from investigating a little too close to their corner of the universe and the only plans Keith had were to shower and fall into bed for ten hours of uninterrupted sleep--if he was lucky the universe didn’t throw yet another enemy their way in the next twenty-four hours.

Throwing his shirt on the floor, he stopped in front of the bathroom mirror to remove his pants when he just so happened to see it. The topmost star that made up his mark was a deep red, almost maroon in colour.

Keith rested a shaky hand on the counter as his head spun and the Earth tipped on its axis a little. Leaning his weight onto his hand, he slumped across the sink so he could see his reflection better.

He hadn’t imagined it and it wasn’t the lighting. The star was red. Granted it wasn’t the bright, rich red of most romantic soul bond marks, but red was red and it certainly wasn’t black. Stomach clenching, he squeezed his eyes shut and let his forehead fall against the cool glass of the mirror.

Soul marks didn’t just change colour. It didn’t happen. A platonic soulmate was a platonic soulmate and a romantic one was romantic. That didn’t change. It didn’t matter if you rejected the bond, it didn’t matter if you married your platonic soulmate, didn’t matter if a romantic soulmate only ever went as far as a one night stand or a youthful summer love.

Even though most people found their soulmates and fell into whatever relationship their soul colour described, that had never mattered to Keith. As far as he was concerned, neither he nor Shiro had a romantic soulmate so he had free reign to feel and hope for whatever he wanted from Shiro. The bond was proof he was the most important person in Shiro’s life and Keith never needed anyone else but Shiro until Voltron.

But this? “Shiro's going to freak out,” he muttered, butting his head against the mirror once, then twice. “As if he doesn’t have enough to think about already.”

He needed to talk to Shiro properly. Leave their positions and the war behind for a while and finally put their relationship in order so the distance he had been feeling ever since he had caught Shiro looking at the clones faded soul mark back in the Black Lion could finally disappear.

Keith was in love with Shiro, but he would be whatever Shiro needed him to be just so he could stay as close to the other man as he could. That was enough. All Keith had ever wanted was to be by Shiro’s side. Not too long ago he had clung to him, willing to fall with the pieces of a broken ship to do just that.

(And everything would have been so much easier without the red star on his chest burning through his skin, so painful and bright he feared everyone could see.)

 

SHIRO COULDN’T LIE AND say he wasn’t looking for it. Every time he caught himself in front of a mirror before or after a shower, every time he changed clothes, every time he pulled his shirt down to peek when he was alone just because, just in case.

Still, if anything was changing, it was taking its time. Time enough for them to find Earth and get caught up in the catastrophe that had happened in their absence.

Voltron was needed more than ever which meant Keith and the rest of the team needed him more than ever—not the weirdness he was feeling because of his barely-there soul mark.

Keith claimed nothing had changed. Shiro couldn’t help but feel that he was wrong, that something fundamental had changed between his first crashing back to Earth and Allura transferring his consciousness into his clone.

He just couldn’t pinpoint what exactly that was and he was scared the uncertainty he was feeling was the reason his soul bond wasn’t recovering.

Of course, he didn’t let on to Keith about any of this, but, as always, he didn’t have to.

“We need to talk,” Keith demanded, standing strong and sure, voice steady and eyes unwavering. It was almost enough to make Shiro smile, seeing how well the boy in front of him had grown into himself. This Keith knew how to direct that blazing energy of his into achieving what he wanted and it was brilliant sight.

Inhaling deeply, he nodded and stepped aside to let Keith into his quarters. Seeing the younger stride into the room and stand in the centre, watching him with expectation made Shiro warm in ways it hadn’t quite before. He’d always relished seeing Keith slowly make himself comfortable in Shiro’s space, but this was different. This feeling wasn’t so much born from protection as it was possession.

His fingers twitched to lock the door behind him as if that could somehow stop Keith from leaving.

“Did you want to sit?” he asked, gesturing to the small table set up in the corner by the window.

Keith shrugged and made himself comfortable in one of the chairs and Shiro followed suit with the same forced casualness.

Shiro broke the silence first, speaking around the tension bubbling in his throat. “If the way I’ve been acting recently has made you uncomfortable or nervous, I’m sorry, Keith. I never meant to push you away.”

Shaking his head, Keith met his eyes once again. “That’s not what this is about.”

“It isn’t?”

“No.” A brief pause. Shiro’s eyes drifted down as Keith’s teeth bit into his lip. “I need to show you something but I don’t want to upset you.”

The tension weighing on his chest lifted a little. Keith had frequently come to him with things that were bothering him. This he knew how to handle. “You know you can tell me anything, Keith. I’m here for you.”

A small smile, tense but soft nonetheless. “I know.” Taking a deep breath, he pulled off his jacket.

And there was that unfamiliar warmth again. “Uh, Keith…”

Stopping as he was reaching to pull at the neck of his shirt, he furrowed his brows, confusion in his eyes. “What’s wrong? I need to show you my mark.”

His mark. Of course.

Shiro cleared his throat and nodded. “Sorry, of course. What’s wrong with it?” Suddenly, a terrible possibility occurred to him. “Has yours faded, too?”

“Not exactly.”

“What does that mean?”

Keith shook his head. “Just look,” he demanded, pulling his shirt down so his soul mark was exposed.

At first, Shiro didn’t notice anything different and the tension that had built up in his muscles released in relief. But he’d once spent every single day of his life looking at the same soul mark so after another second he saw it--the top star had changed colour. Every so slightly, every so subtly.

His next heartbeat was so loudly out of tune with the others he reflexively brought a hand up to his chest as if to keep it inside. His thoughts went blank and after that first moment, it was as if his emotions went into disaster mode. Later, he knew, they’d make up for all the emotions he wasn’t feeling in this moment.

“I know it’s a lot to process,” Keith said slowly, eyes studying Shiro’s expression. He honestly couldn’t tell what expression he wore, if he was wearing one at all. “But I thought you deserved to know.”

His lips formed soundless words before his voicebox caught up. “...okay. I don’t know what to do. Soul marks don’t change, Keith.” Hesitating, he added, “Maybe we should talk to someone about this?”

Keith frowned. “You think there’s something wrong with our bond?”

Shiro winced at how defensive and hurt he sounded. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “To be honest, I’m not even certain mine will come back. Maybe the cloning situation messed everything up beyond repair.”

Crossing his arms, Keith snapped, “We are not beyond repair. I told you before: you’re my soulmate, no matter what. I don’t care what body you’re in or what colour our marks are.”

“I’m not questioning that.”

“It sure as hell sounded like you were.”

“I’m sorry. Maybe I need more time to process this--your mark’s turning red and mine won’t even return to normal. I don’t know what’s happening and I don’t like feeling like I don’t have control of my own body. If this even still counts as my body.”

That gave Keith pause. “Of course it’s your body,” he replied quietly.

They sat in silence for a while staring down at the table. Out of the corner of his eyes, he studied the sad, worried expression on Keith’s face and hated himself for putting it there. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“I know,” Keith replied, just as quiet. “I’m willing to wait, Shiro. You’re the most important person to me, no matter what you want. I’m not going anywhere.”

Shiro smiled, fully and wholly, because that, he had never doubted.

 

EVEN THOUGH THE CURIOSITY was crushing, Shiro hadn’t seen Keith’s soul mark since that night two weeks ago. Keith hadn’t volunteered and Shiro hadn’t asked. The more they avoided the situation the better for their working relationship.

At least, that’s what he was trying to convince himself.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Lance demanded, staring between Shiro and where Keith stood on the other side of the room.

Pidge elbowed him in the side.

“Ow!”

“Shut up, moron,” she muttered.

“It’s just a question! You don’t have to break my ribs for it.”

“Nothing’s going on. Everything’s fine,” Keith cut in, frowning at Lance.

Lance raised an eyebrow. “Really? You’re literally on opposite sides of the room from each other.”

Keith’s frown turned into a glare. “So?”

“So, that’s usual, even for the two of you!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Keith shot back.

Hunk coughed in interruption. “Nothing, nothing. But you have to admit, there’s usually a lot more, I don’t know, eye contact?” He looked to Pidge as of for confirmation.

Pidge shrugged without looking away from her datapad. “I’m not getting involved in this.”

Lance scoffed and slumped back into his seat. “Coward.”

“Okay, I think we should all get back to the matter at hand.” Shiro turned his attention to Allura who had been characteristically silent throughout the entire exchange, bless her soul. “You were saying you there was another delay in the building of the castle?”

All humour left her expression as her lips thinned. “Unfortunately so. We have the plans and the manpower, but with everything else going on with the recovery effort, we’re a little short on resources. Of course, housing has to be a priority so we’re experiencing delays before we get the materials we need.”

Now that they were back on topic, Pidge looked up from her datapad. “We’re doing the best we can with the Lions for now, but realistically, it’s going to be much more difficult to find the missing Alteans without a fully functioning system like the castles. Even with the leaps and bound Earth technology has taken recently, it just can’t compete.”

“This wouldn’t even be an issue if they would let us take Atlas deeper into space,” Lance grumbled.

Shiro crossed his arms and frowned at the memory of how that particular conversation had gone down. “They’re afraid of another attack coming while Volton’s gone. You can’t blame them for wanting to keep their best defence as close as possible.”

Keith straightened from his slump against the wall. “I can if they’re demanding you have to be with it.”

“No one else has been able to operate Atlas the same way as I can.”

PIdge snorted. “Which isn’t a surprise considering none of them have ever piloted a giant mechanical lion and formed a giant mechanical space robot, with four other people no less. Controlling something that size by yourself is considerably more difficult.”

Coughing, Shiro shifted in his seat. “Yes, well, in any case, unless we’re willing to wait until Earth is more secure in its position of defence, it may be Voltron does go out and scout alone, at least for now.”

Keith stepped closer to the circle so he was standing behind Hunk’s position on the couch. “We have no idea what’s waiting for us out there. Without a way to power the lions or wormhole out in an emergency, it could be very dangerous.”

“So we make sure to keep it to scouting only,” Allura said firmly. “We gather all the information we can and if we do find something, we return to Earth to properly plan a mission.”

Lance clapped and stood. “Sounds like a plan! Now, I propose we conclude this informal little meeting so Allura and I can go. They’ve just set up a marketplace not too far out from the base and I’m in desperate need to normal social interaction.” Another significant glance between Keith and Shiro.

Across the room, Keith glared at him and Shiro felt the corner of his mouth pull down as exasperation pooled in his chest.

Allura shrugged. “Sure, why not? I’ve been meaning to explore your planet a little further.”

“Yes!” Lance pumped a fist into the air.

Pidge stood, sliding her datapad away. “Sounds good. I need a few loose parts for a project Matt and I working on anyway.”

“What, no!”

“Lance!” Allura scolded. “Of course you can come, Pidge.”

Shiro shook his head in amusement as the two women left the room with a groaning Lance in tow. Pidge was a devious little soul.

Hunk snorted and stood. “She’s totally messing with him,” he quipped, waving as he left the room.

Leaving Shiro alone with Keith.

After a second, Keith moved around the couch to take Hunk’s vacated seat. “I’d worry about how blatantly she’s playing favourites if her messing with Lance wasn’t so amusing.”

Shiro shrugged. “It’s harmless. Allura’s not the kind of person to be deterred that easily. If she’s really interested in Lance, she’ll let him know.”

“She knows what she wants,” Keith muttered.

He knew Keith wasn’t that petty, but it was hard not to read into that, even just a little. Despite himself, his heart panged in a mixture of hurt and guilt. “My mark still hasn’t changed,” he admitted into the silence, needing to get that out as if it could explain why he still hadn’t acknowledged what Keith had all but confessed that night two weeks ago.

Keith slumped forward, arms resting on his knees. “Figured you would have told me if it had.” A short pause. “Mine has. More of the stars are red now.”

A weight lifted from his chest to build in this throat. “Yeah?” he croaked out around the lump.

“Yeah.”

Shiro hated himself a little bit more at the carefully concealed hurt in that one word. He wanted more than anything at that moment to tell him everything he wanted to hear, just to make that hurt go away. But.

But his mark still hadn’t changed.

 

THE VERY NEXT MORNING Shiro ignored every urgent message waiting for him in lieu of hunting down Matt Holt.

The Holts were part of the team building a system to help reunite family and friends that had been separated during the attack and had no way of finding or contacting each other. If anyone knew what he wanted to know, it would be one of them, and Pidge was scheduled to travel to another base with Hunk today to assist in repairs.

He found Matt surrounded by all kinds of technology, buried neck deep in what appeared to Shiro to be a giant mess of wires. “Shit!” he younger swore, pulling his hand back quickly from a small spark.

“Is this a bad time?” Shiro asked, hoping that he wouldn't be turned away. He needed help now--he couldn’t keep avoiding Keith. It wasn’t fair on either of them.

Matt signed and stood, rubbing his hands on his thighs. “No, may as well take a break. What can I do for you, Shiro?”

“That computer system you’re developing to locate people? Do you think you could use it to find someone for me?”

Matt blinked in surprise. “Of course, you wouldn’t be the first to ask. Just give me a name and I can try,” he said, already turning to pick up a datapad.

Of course he wasn’t the first, he’d known that. A lot of people were missing loved ones after the attack. Shiro hesitated, the silence stretching long enough for Matt to look back at him curiously. “Shiro? Name?”

Shaking his head, he went to turn away. “You know what? Never mind. It’s not important.” Not true, but asking him to find a soulmate expert to tell him how to act around someone who was safe and here with him when many, many people didn’t even know if their soulmates were alive suddenly sounded very self-absorbed of him.

“Hey, wait,” Matt called, coming out from his technology nest. “Really, what’s this about?”

He really didn’t want to discuss this with Matt, but if not him, then who? He wasn’t about to bother any of the Paladins with this, and Keith, his main shoulder of support, was out of the question for obvious reasons. Exhaling, he shook his head. “I just need to talk to someone who knows more about soulmate bonds than I do. I have...questions.”

Raising his brows, Matt folded his arms. “Is this about Keith?”

Shiro’s face warmed and Matt nodded slowly, expression deadpan and unsurprised. “Look, I don’t know anything about soulmate bonds, you should really talk to my mom, she knows more than me, and I have no idea about half of what happened to you out in the great unknown, but we just averted the end of the world by the skin of our teeth and we still all might die next week anyway. If it were me, I wouldn’t be relying on a glorified tattoo to tell me how I should feel.”

Shiro had to bite back a tart response, feeling a little like a scolded child and less like the Captain he now was. But Matt was right, as much as it killed him to admit it. He vividly remembered what it had felt like, watching Voltron crash back to Earth and not knowing if any of them, if Keith, had survived. And they still had many more battles to fight before this was over.

In all likelihood, he would be feeling that fear again, probably more than once if Keith had anything to say about it. They had a shared habit of putting themselves danger.

Could he walk into those battles with this hanging between them still? Face the possibility of dying all over again with that uncertain distance shoving its way between them like a physical force? Sit through another briefing trying not to notice Keith trying not to notice him?

“You’re right. Thank you, Matt,” he murmured, eyes focussing on the other boy for a brief moment before he turned to walk out of the room again, eyes focussed on the floor in front of him and brows furrowed.

“Yeah, yeah. You can thank me by buying me lunch!”

 

KEITH DIDN’T WANT TO feel hurt that Shiro was avoiding him. He had promised to give him time, after all. He knew it was harder for Shiro, the adjustment from platonic to the more the deep red signified. Keith was self-aware enough to look back and realise his feeling didn’t exactly appear overnight with that single red star.

He hadn’t even been sixteen when he had Shiro had first met. Not even accounting for how the past few years and fucked around with their ages, this was much more an adjustment for Shiro than it was for him.

Keith knew this. But still.

Shiro avoiding him stung. Their relationship had been somewhat strange ever since he’d gotten the real Shiro back, but these past few weeks of not talking to Shiro one on one like they used to? So much worse.

He was beginning to regret telling Shiro about the change in his soul mark at all. It wasn’t as if Shiro’s was changing. Maybe everything would have been easier if he’d just kept it to himself.

Too late for that now. Aggravated, he spun on his heel. He was planning on taking a hoverbike out into the desert, but he could be just as alone with a training bot, and at least those he could hit.

His mother would be so proud to see him now, he thought, snorting to himself.

Thankfully, the training room was clear. At this time of night, he wasn’t surprised. Not many people down on Earth truly appreciated this room like he thought they ought to--sure, they’d almost wiped the floor with his face the first few times he’d fought them too, but that was the whole point.

At the very least, that’s the impression he got watching Pidge and Allura almost sadistically re-create the training programs on the Atlas. He almost felt sorry watching some of those cadets. Maybe he would be more empathetic if a war wasn’t coming to them, but then again, maybe not.

He was halfway through cutting two the bots into five separate pieces when the door opened behind him.

“Pidge and Matt are going to give you an earful for that.”

Really, it was shameful how fast he let his guard down. The two bots clattered to the floor in a broken heap. Keith took a moment to pant down at them--Pidge really would murder him--before he turned to face Shiro.

It was rare these days to see Shiro out of his uniform. Looking over the soft grey and black cotton, Keith could admit that he missed it. Shifting his weight and not sure what to say, he threw out a, “Hey.”

Shiro’s smile was small and hesitant. “Can we talk?”

Clenching his sword over the feel of his heart speeding, he nodded. “Yeah.”

Looking around the room, Shiro seemed to decide that this was as good a place an any to have this conversation. Keith didn’t know whether that was a good sign or not. Did he anticipate this conversation being that short? Did he think no one would interrupt? Did he not want to take Keith anywhere more private?

Keith was used to being lost in his own head but this was crazy.

Chuckling awkwardly, Shiro closed his eyes. “I’ve been thinking about this for a week and I still don’t know what to say.”

“Thinking about what?” Keith asked, crossing his arms over himself, sword and all, as if it could somehow protect him from whatever the elder was about to say like he could defend against a physical attack.

“You, me, the marks, everything.” He gestured around between them as if that explanation made things at all clearer.

Keith frowned at him, a hard, heavy ball building in his throat to weigh him down. “What?”

“This isn’t coming out right. Since your mark changed and mine hasn’t, I went to talk to Matt and he said something that got me thinking.”

“What’s Matt got to do with this?” Keith interrupted. Sure, Shiro and Matt were friendly, but it wasn’t like they were best friends or anything. How did he come into this at all?

“I’ll explain later. The point is, I don’t care what colour our soul marks are. I mean, I do, but it doesn’t mean I should base our relationship around it. I’ve already died once and sooner or later we’re going to go back out there. I don’t want to do that without clearing this up first.”

Well didn’t that just make him feel all warm and fuzzy? “So you’re basically saying that this doesn’t have to change anything. I get it, Shiro.”

He averted his gaze, hoping Shiro would get the hint and move away from the door so he could escape and be alone for the next six to eight hours. He could pull together some semblance of a normal interaction given that time, but right now, the ball in his throat was threatening to choke him.

There was a heavy silence before Shiro burst out with, “What, no! That’s not what I’m saying at all.”

Surprised at the outburst, the heaviness in his throat faded and Keith flicked his eyes up Shiro again without thinking. The distress on the elder's face didn’t make him feel much better. “So what are you saying?”

Shiro flushed and set his jaw in a determined line. “I don’t know if my mark will stay like this, if it will change or even what colour it will change to. I don’t even know if soul marks are supposed to change, but relationships do change and I don’t want to go back into this war wondering what could have been if I made a different choice now. So many people lost their soulmates, Keith, and I don’t want to be one of them. If I wait for my mark to change before I admit how I feel, it could be too late anyway by the time it does.”

Keith couldn't quite believe what he was hearing. His breathing felt shallow. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying.”

Shiro sent him a shy smile. “Hungry?”

Keith dropped his sword and threw himself forward into a hug, burying his nose into Shiro’s neck. “Starving.”

Two arms, one warm flesh and one cool metal, squeezed him tightly.

 

**AFTER:**

THE SHIP SAFETY LIGHTS woke Shiro. Even on a ship in the dead of space, it was never truly dark. Not if Occupational Health and Safety had anything to say about it.

Groaning, he turned over to check the time and judged it late enough to be awake without looking like a workaholic. Keith was due back from some humanitarian mission a galaxy over today and the last thing he needed was the crew blabbing to his husband about how he wasn’t taking care of himself.

Again.

Dragging himself out of bed and feeling his joints crack, he flicked on the lights proper before making his way to the private bathroom--one of the perks of having the captains quarters. He was rubbing the fog from his eyes, which took longer to clear these days, when he saw a glimpse of it in the mirror.

Red had overtaken the long-faded stars on his chest. All at once, overnight, after years it was just there. Unapologetically in deep, heartbreaking red.

Blinking away moisture, Shiro smiled at his reflection, chest clenching almost painfully.

He couldn’t wait for Keith to come home.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, please let me know if you like it! I'm a ball of anxiety who feeds off praise like chocolate.


End file.
